Guwahati: In a unique endeavour, Indian Railways has begun work to convert train coaches into isolation wards to deal with rush of COVID-19 patients.

"Out of the 17 railway zones in India, the Railway Board has asked Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and the Northearn Railway to modify train coaches into isolation wards on experimental basis to deal with patients of novel coronavirus," the NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Subhanan Chanda told IANS.

He said such a plan can help the government and all other authorities to be well-prepared to meet any emergency.

"If the railway coaches, experimentally converted into isolation wards, become purposeful to deal with the COVID-19 patients, then the railway board might ask all the 17 zones to modify more coaches to convert into isolation wards," Chanda said.